Process of manufacturing tow from flax and similar plants.



res rain are JASON L. MERRILL, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

.PBOCESS OF MANUFACTURING TOW FROM FLAX AND SIMILAR PLANTS.

Leas es.

No Drawing.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Apr, 17, 1917. Application filed February 26, 1917. Serial No. 151,121.

(DEDICATED TO THE PUBLIC.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAsoN L. MERRILL, a

- citizen of the United States of America, and

an employee of the Department of Agriculture of the said United States, residing at Washington, District of Columbia, (whose post-otlice address is Washington, District of Columbia,) have invented a new and useful Process of Manufacturing Tow from Flax and Similar Plants.

This application is made under the act of March 3, 1883, chapter 143 (22 Stat, 625), and the invention herein described and claimed may be used by the Government of the United States or any of its oflicers or employees in the prosecution of work for the Government, or any person in the United States, without payment to me of any royalty thereon.

My invention relates to improvements inthe process of manufacturing tow, whereby the tow shall contain such a low proportion of woody matter that said tow may be used economically in the manufacture of paper,

The stem and branches of the flaX plant consist of an inner hollow cylindrical core of woody matter surrounded by a thin layer of bark in which occur the true flax fibers.

Processes are in commercial operation by which layers of flax straw are broken by means of corrugated crushing rollers and much of the woody matter is removed but not enough of the woody matter is removed to render the tow suitable for the economical manufacture of paper of suitable quality.

Processes have been devised wherein a layer of flax straw is repeatedly crushed or broken by being rolled successively through a series of corrugated rolls operating in pairs, the layer of straw being conveyed automatically from each pair of rollers into the succeeding pairs.

In many processes the layer of straw is stretched or drawn in the direction of its movement while passing through a series of crushing rollers but the extent of this stretching or. drawing is slight, being little more than sufficient to maintain the layer of straw taut in the direction of its movement through the series of crushing rollers.

straw to a violent pulling or drawing action of such intensity that the layer is either pulled apart or reduced to a very thin layer, during which action the fibrous constituents of the straw are drawn over each other,

thereby loosening the adhering fine pieces of woody matter. During both of these actions more or less fine woody matter falls away from the layer of straw and the remaining fine woody pieces may be removed subsequently by means of the various well known dusting processes.

This action may be secured by any construction of machine, but I prefer to use a series of pairs of rollers, corrugated or fluted longitudinally, in which series the alternate pairs of rollers have a peripheral speed approximately five times the peripheral speed of the other pairs of rollers. The difference in peripheral speeds may be any ratio provided that it creates a violent pulling or drawing action on the layer of broken straw.

This process is applicable to threshed flax straw of the seed-variety and if such straw is retted it will yieldra tow containing less woody matter than if unretted.

From the foregoing, it is thought that the operation and many advantages of the herein described process will be apparent to those skilled in the art, without further description, and it will be understood that various changes and variations may be resorted to in practising the process without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the process.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

'A process for the manufacture of tow from flax and similar plants, consisting in breaking fibrous material in a multiplicity of places by subjecting the material to trans- In testimony whereof, I afliX my signature verse bending then subjecting the bended in the presence of two subscribing Wit- 10 material to Violent pulling and simultanenesses.

ously therewith drawing the fibrous con- JASON L MERRILL.

' stituents of the material over each other Woody substances adhering thereto substan- CHARLES W. BOYLE, tially as specified. THOMAS SHAW.

for efl'ecting the removal of the fragmentary WVitnesses:

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. 0.? 

